Lake Master is pretty and colorfull for sure, but I see more benefit out of the Navionics mapping. The improvments they have made and ability to stay up to date are a tremendous. I found a hump just a few weeks ago that produced a fish with just minutes to go in a tournament. If it had not been for Navionics mapping that fish would have never gotten to my boat.

Those Pretty Colors make it easy to tell depth quickly without having to focus on depth numbers. Mapping should be easy to interpret...you want to spend your time focusing on reading a contour map or using the data to catch more fish???

Can you explain the differences? Circles are major differences and the arrows are the arrows show the "Sweet Spots" I look for that will hold fish on bigger structures.



Speaking of Humps where is the one circled in Yellow?

The Details are in the maps. Get what works best for you.

I have noticed over the last week I spent everyday on Rayburn compareing the 2 cards and Lakemaster by far had the best detail and what you seen on the map is what you seen underwater not so much with Navionics I still use both cards for different reasons but of the two Lakemaster is way better IMHO.

Red Circled Detail - Point on a Point at 20 Foot Zoom Level



Yellow Circle - Hump and Point Details at 50 Foot Zoom Level



Black Circle - Channel Swing Bank...Channel Does not reach the bank. Using Depth Hightlight I shaded from 21-23 Foot and you can make is show the channel much easier and how close the channel gets to the bank.



Brown Circle - Point and Ditch on Island at 50 foot Zoom Level



White Circle - Differences in Depth Readings and How this ditch is charted.

Now lets look at some of the arrows

Top Right of the Image first small bay in the Creek

Contours of the Bay...

100 Foot Zoom Level



20 Foot Zoom Level



Let's look at the small ditech and points on the right bank



And the Road coming off the top side of the island



Now what happens when they pull more water out of the lake or we have a drought and the lake goes down????

Island at Full Pool



No the Lake is Down 5 Foot...you don't have to use your mind to subtract the depth of each contour or where is the bank or you the safety shading with Shallow Water Highlight or you Depth Highlight...just reduce the Water Level Offset by the Depth the Lake is lower or raised and it redraws the map to the new water level

Anyone have any Lakemaster shots at this zoom for Livingston we can look at?

Appreciate the comparatives, Doug. But even close to your "?" you post in the Navionics maps, there appears to be detail nearby that doesn't appear in the Lakemaster map.
I think all can easily see that there are presentations in each map that are absent in the other.

How often does Lakemaster update these maps, or do they remain static forever?

Already posted Livingston from LakeMaster. Livingston is not HD from LakeMaster yet. Like most all Mapping Companies LakeMaster Continually scans and adds new data as they acquire the data. Texas/Oklahoma is already on the second version where several lakes where added and many where updated to higher data levels. LakeMaster is only in it's second year of scanning Texas and Oklahoma lakes. Looks like they are capturing more details when they do get everything in HD.

Want to compare more HD Lakes? I'm Game...it only helps the consumer in choosing the best mapping products for them.

Here's more HD Lakes from LakeMaster...want to compare?

Texoma:





Ray Roberts:





Lewisville:

Grapevine:





Ray Hubbard:





Richland Chambers:

Cedar Creek:





Tawakoni:





Palestine:





Sam Rayburh:

Canyons



Farmers Flats



Now to be equal for comparison purposes we need to maintain the Zoom Level Scale and the same GPS Coordinates of the Cursor so we can try to get the best comparison we can between the brands.

IF you have others you would like to compare here is the LakeMaster Lake List for Texas Oklahoma the BOLD listings are in HD Detail for 2012.





If anyone has requests for the details of any of the LakeMaster Listings and wants examples tell me approximate coordinates and I will get examples for you.

What you posted from Livingston doesn't have any data whatsoever. I understand the concept of an HD lake with 1' contouring...but is there no data at all for Livingston?

I appreciate wanting to help consumers. That's what it's all about.
I'll stick to featuring any lake which someone might ask about. No need to try and cherry-pick and post a bunch of lakes that I already know Lakemaster doesn't have.

Both companies continue to add data at a rapid pace. The boaters are the big winners.

The main difference I see is that Navionics makes those additions available to their customers the very same day. I'm not clear as to what a Lakemaster customer must do to get the new data.
I assume they wait for a new product to be released, and then go buy it.

And coming in a few weeks is a revolutionary program that allows customers to electively participate in mapping as well. Customers can record and upload sonar logs which will generate new HD mapping within the Fish Layer in just 24 hours.
No one will ever need to wait for a survey effort to arrive at their home lake...

Livingston does have contours but those images are posted at the same zoom level you did and was done so consumers can compare the same level of data. Livingston is not HD yet but does have contour lines.

LakeMaster when a lake is HD is done to the best data that day...guess when you do it right the first time and capture the details as was suppose to be done you don't need to update as often. And LakeMaster when doing HD Scanning is using only their approved scan teams. There can tons of variables that can add inaccuracies using the general public...like how deep is the transducer in the water, are they getting good GPS REception, where the GPS Receiver is from the transducer and lake level the day they scanned. How are these variables over come? None of that was taken in account when I send recordings in..it was go get them. Then they didn't even use them. Guess I'll leave my mapping to the expert charter that LakeMaster uses. Also sounds like these updates are forever? Isn't it just one year on the updates then you have to pay again to extend? Why wasn't the data collected the first time?

Funny you don't want to help others compare Apple to Apples so they can make the best decision for themselves. Heck you pick the spots of HD Lakes booth brands have and I'm up for showing what LakeMaster has to offer from the current version 2 of Texas/Oklahoma Lakes. But lets look all over the lakes from the back of the creeks to main lake structure. Consumers deserve to see what they are getting. I'm just trying to give example of what they get with LakeMaster. Shouldn't they get the opportunity to see the same from Navionics. Both are great companies but there are differences in product. Let show them what their hard earned dollars are going towards and let them make the decision based on their needs and detail level.

Thank's Doug for your Time